THE SOCIAL BATTLESPACE OF STABILIZATION OPERATIONS – ACTION AMONGST THE PEOPLE Major (GS) Teemu Nurmela Finnish Army Finnish National Defence University Department of Tactics and Operational Art Series 1 No 1/2010 Front cover: A Finnish dismounted patrol handing out leaflets in Kholm, Afghanistan, in the summer of 2009. (Antti Saarelma / Finnish Defence Forces. Used with permission.) © Teemu Nurmela National Defence University, Department of Tactics and Operational Art ISBN 978-951-25-2081-7 ISSN 1238-2744 Edita Prima Oy Helsinki 2010 3 FOREWORD Due to the complexity of conflicts, the human dimension in peacekeeping and stabiliza- tion operations has increased its significance. At the same time understanding of human dimension has not improved at the same rate. The lessons learnt from different missions differ from country to country and from mission to mission. Before this study, very little Finnish or international research exists on the human terrain of a conflict. The purpose of this study is to explore the human dimension of the tactical land operating environment (battlespace) in stabilization operations and thereby interpret the tactical reality of deployed ground troops. This study gives a new perspective and significant information understanding of the actors and situation in operating environment which usually is more than compli- cated. On behalf of department of tactics and operational art, I would like to thank Teemu Nurmela for providing new scientific information to the broad field of military sciences. Santahamina 25.1.2010 Colonel Pekka Järvi 4 CONTENTS FOREWORD..............................................................................................................................3 CONTENTS ...............................................................................................................................4 ACRONYMS .............................................................................................................................7 LIST OF PICTURES AND TABLES......................................................................................10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................................................12 1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................13 1.1 The purpose statement – discovering the tactical reality ....................13 1.2 The quest for pre-understanding ................................................................15 1.3 Organization of this paper.............................................................................16 2 THE PARADIGM SHIFT AND MODERN OPERATIONS ..........................................18 2.1 War amongst the people................................................................................19 2.2 Irregular Warfare and the irregular adversary .........................................21 2.2.1 Warlords and Warriors ............................................................................... 24 2.2.2 The Accidental Guerilla.............................................................................. 25 2.3 The scientific stance of this thesis.............................................................28 2.3.1 Philosophy of science and the theoretical context...................................... 28 2.3.2 Pre-understanding and consequent propositions ........................................ 30 2.4 The research problem and the qualitative approach.............................32 2.4.1 The research questions ............................................................................... 32 2.4.2 The frame of thesis and the scope of study ................................................ 33 2.5 Methodology .....................................................................................................35 3 STABILIZATION OPERATIONS ..................................................................................37 3.1 The French emphasis on stabilization.......................................................37 3.2 The Nordic concept of PSOs ........................................................................38 3.3 The international organizations (UN, EU, NATO)....................................40 3.4 The British Comprehensive Approach ......................................................41 3.5 The American approach to stabilization ...................................................42 3.6 Classic counterinsurgency theories ..........................................................44 3.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................46 5 4 OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE THESIS ................................................................49 4.1 The Concept of Battlespace .........................................................................49 4.2 Challenging the concept................................................................................52 4.3 Battlespace dimensions ................................................................................54 4.3.1 The Physical Dimension............................................................................. 55 4.3.2 The Human Dimension............................................................................... 59 4.3.3 The Information Dimension ....................................................................... 63 4.3.4 The Temporal Dimension........................................................................... 66 4.4 The visibility of battlespace..........................................................................68 4.5 Social action within the horizon of lifeworld............................................73 4.5.1 The Theory of Communicative Action....................................................... 73 4.5.2 Soldiers and Strangers ................................................................................ 78 4.5.3 Public and Private Spheres ......................................................................... 79 4.6 The “Social” Battlespace...............................................................................80 5 CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION: THE HUMAN DIMENSION OF BATTLESPACE IN AFGHANISTAN....................................................................................83 5.1 Case study design and methods.................................................................83 5.2 The land operating environment of the ISAF...........................................86 5.3 The human terrain ...........................................................................................89 5.4 The cultural domain ........................................................................................93 5.5 The social domain ...........................................................................................95 5.6 Conclusions ......................................................................................................98 6 THE SOCIAL BATTLESPACE OF ISAF ....................................................................101 6.1 Context 1 – The Finnish forces (with Swedish and Norwegian troops) ............................................................................................................................101 6.2 Rival Context 2 – The French Forces.......................................................106 6.3 Rival Context 3 – The British Forces........................................................110 6.4 Cross-case analysis of the human dimension ......................................113 6.4.1 Context comparison of the three cases ..................................................... 113 6.4.2 The actors of the human terrain................................................................ 116 6.4.3 The interaction between the force and the other actors............................ 118 6.5 Amongst the people in Afghanistan.........................................................122 6 7 DISCUSSION.................................................................................................................126 7.1 Research results............................................................................................126 7.2 Validity and reliability evaluation ..............................................................128 7.3 Recommendations for future research....................................................130 SOURCES ..............................................................................................................................133 ANNEXES .............................................................................................................................145 7 ACRONYMS 9/11 The attacks of September 11th, 2001 in the USA ANA Afghan National Army ANAP Afghan National Auxiliary Police ANP Afghan National Police ANSF Afghan National Security Forces AO Area of Operations AOI Area of Interest AOR Area of Operations and Responsibility BCA Bataillon des Chasseurs Alpins (Alpine Jaeger Battalion) CBRN Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear CI Counter Intelligence CID Collège Interarmées de Défense (French Joint Staff College) CIMIC Civil – Military Co-operation CO Commanding Officer COL Colonel COIN Counterinsurgency CPT Captain DP Displaced Person DPKO Department of Peace-Keeping Operations (United Nations) EBAO Effects Based Approach on Operations EOD Explosive Ordnance Disposal ETT Embedded Training Team (OEF) EU European Union EUBG European Union Battlegroups EUFOR European Union Force